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Johnny’s eyes were slowly picking up the faint glow of morning sunlight just beyond the window’s curtain. He turned his face away from the intrusion, cracking his one eye open just a sliver to peak at his counterpart.
Jaehyun was still sound asleep. Even facing away from him, he was still as peaceful and beautiful as he’s ever looked. He admired the beauty of his smooth, strong shoulder and even the tiny, faded red marks on his back from the night before.
Johnny rolled over onto his side, aligning his body perfectly against his husband’s and resting his long arm in the crook of his comforter-covered waist.
The scent of his neck was intoxicating.
With a contented sigh, he closed his eyes once more, hoping to steal a few extra winks on this Sunday morning.
After just a few seconds, Jaehyun started shifting under his hold. Johnny could feel the way his sturdy form rotated gently into him.
He was thankful he opened his eyes once more just in time to catch the way Jaehyun’s ever-soft hair fluffed sweetly as he flopped back onto the pillow.
“Hi,” Jaehyun whispered.
“Hi,” Johnny answered, pulling his arm tighter around him.
Jaehyun’s eyes lolled closed again as a smiled appeared, triggering his dimples into action.
The pair ended their discussion there, opting to communicate by the language of sleepy morning cuddles instead. Johnny nuzzled his forehead against the other’s and cozied his hips into him.
Jaehyun let Johnny slot a leg between his, working his pelvis in the laziest, weakest grind imaginable.
It felt nice – just right for the couple of over ten years who rarely had a morning off to themselves anymore.
Johnny groaned from low in his throat. He snaked his hand beneath the comforter and clutched against Jaehyun’s bare lower back. Jaehyun’s lips parted, exhaling.
“Baby.”
His voice was breathy and quiet. Johnny didn’t give him an opportunity to speak again, capturing his lips. Even after all this time, he was still mesmerized at the way Jaehyun’s lips never dried out. Ever. Amazing.
“I— I’m too sore for more,” Jaehyun huffed when he was finally able to speak.
Johnny saw his shy smile and chuckled. Last night had gotten a little out of hand in the bedroom – but to be fair, that was about par for the course any time Johnny was allowed to watch a tropey romantic comedy.
“It’s okay, me too,” he muttered, kissing down his jaw. “We can just fool around a little...”
Jaehyun giggled and slid his hand up Johnny’s collarbone, fingers slipping into the short hair at the nape of his neck. His tired eyes peaked over to the Apple watch on his wrist, with a notification for 24 texts.
With wrinkled brows, he brought his wrist closer to his face and was about to open the messages, but Johnny grabbed his hand. He pinned it against the pillow as he rolled on top of Jaehyun.
“John— Ah,” he groaned as Johnny nibbled his neck. “Wait, I have a crap-ton of texts.”
“Babe, we never have a free morning,” Johnny whined against his skin. “The kids will be up soon so let’s just play while we can.”
Johnny released his hold on his hand, sliding his own down beneath the sheets. Jaehyun took the chance to check his watch again. Now there were 33 messages.
Something was happening.
“Shit,” he muttered.
“I know, baby.”
“No, just— Agh, stop real quick.”
Jaehyun pushed his very disgruntled husband off of him and sat up. He reached for his phone on the nightstand.
“It’s probably just work,” Johnny grumbled, running his hand through his hair. “And since it’s the weekend, you don’t have to answer. We talked about this...”
“Oh fuck,” Jaehyun’s eyes widened. “It’s not work, it’s the soccer team group chat.”
“What?!” Johnny sat forward and reached for Jaehyun’s phone, angling it towards him. “I thought the season was over.”
“It is! Or... It was... I don’t know, they’re asking if we got an email...” he mumbled, scrolling through the chat. “What email? Johnny, what email?”
“I don’t know! You’re the parent contact!”
“Fuck, okay, um...”
Jaehyun hummed while he searched his inbox and then his spam file. There it was – the fateful email. He gulped.
“So apparently, there was a miscalculation,” he started, mouth dry. “The team made it into the play-offs—”
“Alright, yes! Our boy’s in the play-offs!” Johnny whooped.
Jaehyun glanced over at him, annoyed, and went back to reading. “First game is in... Awesome, just under an hour...”
“Less than an hour? Ah, forget it,” Johnny laughed, covering his tired face with his hands. “We’ll never get the kids up and ready and make it to the fields in time. Let’s just pretend we never saw it and go back to sleep.”
He tugged on Jaehyun’s waist, but his husband stayed firmly in place despite his pouting. Jaehyun sighed and turned around to Johnny. “Hyuckie will be crushed.”
“He probably doesn’t even know—"
“Dad! Appa! Are you up yet?! We’re gonna be late!”
Their eldest son’s voice blared through their bedroom door, sounding like the nine-year-old was running down the hallway.
Johnny sighed, low and deep.
“So—”
“Yep, let’s get up,” Johnny said.
He pushed the covers off and swung his legs off the mattress. Jaehyun followed behind and hastily started making the bed.
Johnny trudged into the bathroom with purpose while Jaehyun pulled on a t-shirt and shorts.
“I’ll go get Chenle and Jisung up,” Jaehyun announced.
He left their room and gently pushed in the door of their five-year-old’s bedroom.
“Lele, time to get up,” he cooed softly, sitting on the edge of his Buzz Lightyear-themed bed.
He rubbed the child’s back until he rolled over, stretching the whole of his tiny little body until his torso knocked into Jaehyun’s thigh.
“Morning Appa!”
Jaehyun smiled. Their second child was almost always in bright spirits, even first thing in the morning. He patted the small boy’s tummy and stood.
“Come on, let’s get you up,” he said, lifting him out of bed and setting him on his feet. “We’re going to you brother’s game soon.”
“Can I watch cartoons?”
“No time for cartoons. Sorry, baby,” Jaehyun said definitively.
Chenle pouted but seemed to move on pretty quickly as they left his bedroom hand-in-hand.
“Go potty and get ready for breakfast,” he instructed. “I’ll be down in a minute with your brother.”
Chenle saluted his father (it was a new thing he was doing these days – no one knew why) and scuttled toward the bathroom.
Jaehyun walked to the next bedroom, tiptoeing inside. He retrieved their youngest, a sweet and quiet boy of nearly three years old. He carried his pudgy little still-sleepy body out into the hallway where he was nearly bowled over by his eldest darting around with his fluorescent green uniform on and his socks in his hands.
“Hey, slow your roll, champ. We’re gonna make it,” Jaehyun smiled. “Do you know who brought the half-time snacks last time?”
“Ummm, Mr. Kun,” Donghyuck called over his shoulder. “Tell Dad to hurry!”
Jaehyun ignored his sass as a new realization took hold.
He strode back into his own bedroom and found Johnny buttoning up a plaid top.
“Change of plans,” Jaehyun huffed. “It’s our turn to bring snacks.”
“No biggie,” Johnny shrugged. “Just throw that big box of little chip bags into the car. Problem solved.”
Jaehyun sighed. “We can’t bring those again. Last time Doyoung made multiple snarky comments about how unhealthy they are.”
Of course he did. Johnny’s cousin Doyoung was a long-time, big-mouthed friend of the pair – since their school days. Despite all the major life changes of marriage and having kids, his personality was more or less the same.
“F—” Johnny started but immediately stopped himself, glancing over at the mousy toddler in Jaehyun’s arms. Jaehyun glared at him, scolding with his eyes until Johnny sighed apologetically.
“Anyway, half-time snacks are a fruit game now.”
“A fruit game?”
“Yes, a fruit game,” Jaehyun repeated. “So can you go get a few bags of those teeny tiny oranges? With the easy peel?”
“The what? I’ve never heard of that.” Johnny stared at him with squinted eyes, confused. “Are they a normal thing? Jeez, maybe we should eat more fruit in this house...”
“Look, I’ll go,” Jaehyun finally decided. He shifted Jisung off of his chest and held him out to Johnny. “You feed the kids and just have them ready by the time I’m back.”
“Oh, o-okay,” Johnny said, reaching out for his youngest. “I can do that. No problem.”
“I’m just gonna get changed,” Jaehyun mumbled and walked to his dresser. He turned around to see Johnny still standing there, bouncing the baby on his hip. “What are you doing? Hurry and make some breakfast before Lele tries to feed himself again.”
“Right, yes, okay.”
Johnny was flustered and that made Jaehyun worry a little, but he had to compartmentalize and prioritize – first, healthy half-time snack.
He set off within three minutes, grabbing the keys for the minivan (a black, 2014 Honda Odyssey that was the envy of all their parent friends in its hey-day) on his way out of the door.
Meanwhile, Johnny was left with three hungry munchkins.
“Oh, I had a silly dream!” Chenle giggled to his half-listening father who was trying to secure Jisung (whose bones had now somehow melted down to a jelly) into his high-chair. “You and Appa got us giraffes for pets! But only me and Hyuckie hyung could ride them because Jisungie is too small.”
Chenle reached across to tussle Jisung’s hair in a way he thought was gentle, but was actually a little too rough, making the younger grimace.
“Yes, very silly,” Johnny said but his attention was now caught on the eldest, jogging into the room.
Donghyuck eyed his dad with distress in his eyes. “Ah! I can’t find my shin guards!”
“They’re in the garage—”
“Because they stink!” Chenle yelled, pinching his nose dramatically.
Hyuck rolled his eyes and ran to the garage.
“Lele, that’s not nice,” Johnny scolded softly.
He started rooting through pantry for something quick and easy that would satisfy the gremlins. Cereal was out because well, it was out – he and Jaehyun split the last bowl for a late-night snack two days ago. There were strawberry Poptarts and technically they were allowed since it was the weekend (one of Jaehyun’s rules) but did he really want three kids that hopped up on sugar while out and about? No, thank you.
He shifted his attention to the fridge, where he immediately reached for the box of frozen waffles.
“How about waffles?” he asked, more or less rhetorically, since they were getting them whether they liked it or not.
“Can we have bacon?”
“Not today,” Johnny said, already cracking apart a couple of waffles that were frozen together and dropping them in the toaster. “Sorry, baby.”
“Fine,” Chenle pouted. “But I don’t want it toasted.”
Johnny spun around. “What? You can’t eat a frozen waffle, Lele.”
“But Daddy, you always burn it!” Chenle was now at full shriek. Even Jisung winced at his volume.
“Okay, okay, for god’s sake.”
He loved his son. He truly, deeply did. But Johnny hadn’t had a single drop of coffee yet and Chenle’s intensity was already at a level that would only be manageable after a solid two cups.
He thought for a moment before opting to wrap a frozen waffle in a paper towel and throw it into the microwave for his shrill child. His next and most important move was to pop a K-cup of Caribou coffee into the Keurig and get that brewing.
The microwave dinged.
“Yay!”
Johnny reached in, grabbing the hot, somewhat mushy disk. “Syrup, jam, or Nutella?”
“All of them!” Chenle squealed.
Johnny turned and did his best Dad Stare.
“Nutella, please,” the child smiled, unphased. Someday Johnny would figure out the look that would rattle any child – but today was not that day.
He sloppily swiped just a little bit of the chocolatey hazelnut spread on the soft waffle and popped it on a plate in front of his son.
A moment later, the toaster dinged, and two more fresh waffles were ready.
“Hyuckie! Come eat!” he bellowed, hoping it would reach wherever his eldest was in the house.
He was spreading some strawberry jam on one of the waffles when Donghyuck finally strolled into the kitchen.
“Syrup, jam, or Nutella?”
Donghyuck was already grabbing the syrup from the pantry and putting it on the table, hopping up on his own seat.
“Oh, you got syrup already, awesome,” Johnny said after turning to give Jisung his plate of jam-covered waffle that had been chopped up to within an inch of its life.
Johnny threw a couple more waffles into the toaster before he plated Hyuck’s and gave him a fork.
“Thanks,” the child said. “Can I have a juice too?”
“Uh, how about a ‘please’ first.”
“Please!”
Johnny retrieved one for him and another for Chenle, since he knew all too well he would want one in a minute too.
There was a tremendous, overwhelming sense of calm for about three minutes while all the kids’ mouths were mercifully full. It was just enough time to for him to enjoy a few sips of hot coffee.
“I’m done!” Chenle suddenly squealed.
Johnny couldn’t help but laugh at the Nutella painting his little face. He wet a paper towel and wiped his chubby cheeks off before doing the same for Jisung, who was now dropping the last bits of his waffle directly onto the floor (his usual indication that he was done eating).
“Jisung-ah!” Donghyuck yelped as he felt a jammy piece fall onto his cleat.
“Relax, you know he’s still a baby,” Johnny murmured sternly, reaching down to swipe the towel over the toe of Hyuck’s cleat. “See? No biggie.”
He scooped Jisung out of his high-chair and Chenle hopped out of his seat too.
“Time to get dressed,” he sighed. “Hyuckie, can you put the plates in the sink when you’re done?”
The eldest nodded begrudgingly as Johnny trudged up the steps.
“I wanna wear my Spiderman outfit,” Chenle announced as he bounced into his room.
“Baby, it’s too warm, you’ll be ho—”
“Please, Daddy! Please! Please! Please! P—”
“Oh my god, okay fine,” Johnny caved, rubbing his forehead with his free hand while Jisung squirmed in the hold of his other.
Johnny got it out of the drawers (it was actually just a pajama set but it was all the same to the child) and handed it to him. Meanwhile, he grabbed a spare t-shirt and shorts for when he inevitably wanted to change within the hour.
“Alright, Jisungie, your turn.”
This was always more of a hassle. Jisung might’ve been usually pretty quiet and easy, but he was never pliant when it mattered.
It took a solid nine minutes but as soon as he was wrapping up, he heard the unmistakable screech of tires on a suburban street. He glanced out of the window and confirmed his husband was whipping their beast of a minivan into the driveway.
“Chenle! Go potty then get your shoes on!” he called out.
“I don’t have to go!” Chenle whined from the next room.
“Well try!” Johnny countered. (For some reason, he never seemed to ‘have to’ go until it was the worst possible time in the worst possible place.) “Donghyuck! You ready to go?!”
“Yeah!” He shouted from downstairs.
Johnny heard the click-clacking of his cleats on the hardwood flooring and cringed internally even though he knew it was logically fine. He was just finishing securing the kid-friendly velcro the adorable itty-bitty converse on Jisung’s feet.
He sent his youngest to the other bathroom downstairs, hustling down there as well. Jaehyun honked the horn impatiently from the driveway.
“You have your water bottle filled? You need an extra snack?” Johnny asked offhandedly to the eldest.
“I have everything, just come on!”
Johnny rolled his eyes and stuffed a few extra items in the backpack they always took out with them when with the kids. He went to grab a lid for his tervis tumbler of now room temperature coffee and noticed the forgotten second pair of waffles he had made.
He pulled them out with a frown, noting the blackened edges.
“Told you you always burn them,” Chenle sang playfully as he skipped through the kitchen.
“Hey, I didn’t here you wash your hands, mister,” Johnny scolded over his shoulder. “Get back in there.”
He sloppily swiped some Nutella on the two waffles and closed them together like a sandwich. There were another two honks. He turned to Hyuck who was pacing by the door.
“Go check on Jisung and get him out to the car, please, before Appa makes all our neighbors hate us.”
Hyuck groaned dramatically but did as he was told.
Outside, Jaehyun was T-minus 30 seconds from turning off the car, running inside, and wrangling everyone himself. Finally, he saw his eldest practically dragging his tiny youngest out of the house behind him. He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
Hyuck knew the drill. He tugged open the backdoor and lifted his younger brother into the car before climbing into the way back – being the oldest did have one advantage, which was the sole ownership of the sweet, sweet back seat. Jisung climbed into his car-seat and waited patiently for his dad to come buckle him in.
“You ready for the game?”
“Yeah but I’m gonna miss warm-ups,” Hyuck pouted. “We’re always late...”
Jaehyun was about to turn and apologize when he spotted his giant husband barreling down the steps of their porch, one arm hooked around Chenle, who was giggling and dangling against his side, while he held his coffee in his hand and his waffle-wich between his teeth.
He wove around to the side of the car and practically launched the middle child in through the opened door before shoving his coffee up to Jaehyun to hold and securing the stupid number of buckles on the youngest’s car seat.
Johnny exhaled deeply after clicking in the last piece, as if he had just defused a bomb in the nick of time. He dropped his backpack off his shoulder and left it in the backseat.
In half a dozen strides, Johnny made his way around to the passenger’s seat and climbed inside. He took a bite of the waffle and finally removed it from his mouth.
Jaehyun leaned across and pecked Johnny’s full cheek.
“I’ve never been more attracted to you than I am right now,” he whispered.
Johnny blushed, smiling at the sudden affection.
“Appa, please!” Donghyuck whined. “You can kiss Dad later, we have to go!”
The two adults chuckled like kids. Jaehyun broke away from the googly eyes he was making at Johnny and put the car in reverse, backing out of the driveway.
“Seatbelts!” Jaehyun called out over his shoulder.
After a quick ride with (thankfully) minimal disturbances amongst the children, the family pulled up to the long stretch of green that housed most of the town’s sporting fields. Their tires crunched over the gravely surface of the parking lot. Hyuck was tugging at the door handle before they were even completely stopped. But of course, the child locks were on.
“Dad can you help?” he grumbled.
Johnny hopped out and yanked open the back door, narrowly avoiding getting his shit rocked by his anxious son blasting out of the car. Jaehyun, on the other hand, was calmly focusing on unharnessing the eleventy hundred buckles around Jisung. He was too small to comfortably hold his hand while they walked, so Jaehyun hoisted him into his arms and snagged the grocery bag in his other hand.
Donghyuck took off for the field where he spotted his coach and the rest of his team.
“Hey, stay right by Daddy,” Johnny commanded to his already wandering little Spiderman while he grabbed the fold-out chair from the back of the car.
He held out his hand until his son took it. Something about the feeling of such a small hand in his own never failed to melt a piece of his big, soft heart.
The four made their way across the grass, strolling in the warm mid-morning sun.
“So, you let our son wear pajamas out.”
“I did. It wasn’t a battle I could pick today,” Johnny said, glancing over at Jaehyun. “Besides, it’s adorable.”
Jaehyun hummed. “Fair enough, it’s kinda precious.”
They finally reached the sideline, where all the other parents had already set up camp.
“Ah, here are the Seos,” a black-haired man with glasses said loudly, almost smugly. “We were wondering if you were actually coming.”
“Hi Doyoung,” Johnny sighed. “Better late than never. Say hi to Uncle Do, kids.”
“Hi,” Jisung said softly as Jaehyun put him down.
“Hi Uncle Do!” Chenle screeched, running towards his legs. The kid loved hugging, there was no stopping him.
Doyoung laughed and pat his back warmly.
“Where’s Taeyong?”
“Over by the refreshment table with Kun,” Doyoung said, gesturing over his shoulder. “We thought you might forget the half-time snack so...”
Jaehyun’s shoulders dropped, deflated as he exchanged a glance with his husband. Doyoung’s husband Taeyong and fellow soccer parent Kun were setting out an assortment of chewy granola bars and small packs of pretzels. Of course they did all that.
“I guess we can still put these out at least...” Jaehyun mumbled, heading over there with his now-redundant sack of mini oranges.
Johnny set up the stadium chair and popped the tiny attachable umbrella onto it before Jisung climbed into it.
Johnny looked up to see the kids’ coach jogging towards them, with about half a dozen mini soccer players running in his wake.
“Alright, folks! Now that we’re all here—”
Johnny felt all eyes on him, whether real or just in his imagination, and blushed instinctively. (Little did he know, Coach Yukhei was actually talking about the referee for the match finally arriving after heading to the wrong field first.)
“We’re about to get started. Thanks to everyone for coming out and a special thanks to the Lees for bringing us snacks today.”
The coach smiled brightly and incited a round of applause among the parents. Johnny’s eyes found Jaehyun’s as well as his pouting lower lip.
“Team, grab a quick drink and then back on the field in two minutes.”
Yukhei turned around and ran back across the grass. Hyuck strolled up to where his dads were camped out, with his cousins beside him.
“Hi Uncle Johnny!” Doyoung’s twin sons (fraternal, of course) Jeno and Jaemin said in near unison.
Johnny waved and ruffled both of their fluffy heads before turning to his son. He put his hands on his shoulders, squeezing reassuringly.
“Ready, buddy? Feel good? Feel pumped?”
Donghyuck nodded, throwing his head back to drink his water.
“Gonna kick some bumblebee butt?!” Johnny said, so much more loudly than his son was okay with, clapping his giant hands on his biceps.
Hyuck sighed, shooting a glare at his slightly younger cousins’ chuckles. “They’re the Hornets.”
“Same difference,” Johnny shrugged.
“Sunscreen,” Jaehyun said, suddenly appearing beside him.
Johnny dropped his bag beside him and searched through until he found the SPF 50 sun-block lotion. Jaehyun took it from his hand and knelt in front of his eldest kid.
“Alright, Hyuckie, you got this,” Jaehyun said, smearing sunscreen on his son’s face. “Hustle up hard. Keep an eye on that tall one, and don’t let him intimidate you. Stay in formation and—”
“Appa, I knowww,” Hyuck grumbled. His dad’s general competitiveness was always a little embarrassing.
“Okay, okay. Sorry.”
Jaehyun buttoned his lip and lathered the last of the lotion on his arms.
“Green Demons, let’s go!” Yukhei roared. “Huddle up!”
“Go get ‘em!”
“Kick ass, Baby Bear,” Johnny said.
“Dad,” Hyuck huffed, cheeks burning as he jogged off.
“Yeah, Dad,” Jaehyun glared.
Johnny simply smiled, pleased with himself, as Jaehyun smacked his arm.
“Mr. Kun!”
The parents turned to the target of Chenle’s abrupt yelp: the medium-heighted, light brown-haired, soft-featured man who was passing by them.
“Mr. Kun!” Chenle squealed again. He sprung up from his place where he was inspecting a very peculiar ladybug and ran at full sprint toward the adult. “Are Kunhang and Dejun and Yangyang here?! Are they?!”
“Lele, let go of Mr. Kun’s leg,” Jaehyun said, laughing nervously.
“It’s okay,” Kun smiled before turning his attention to the child. “Kunhang and Dejun are on their way with Mr. Ten. Yangyang should be around here somewhere with Jungwoo...”
Kun glanced around looking for them and Chenle’s face lit up. Johnny and Jaehyun exhaled in relief – keeping the energetic youngster entertained for the next hour or so would be difficult without the help of his small friends.
“Ah, there he is.”
“Hi everyone,” Jungwoo sang as he sauntered over with Yangyang on his hip and an open pack of Sour Patch Kids in his hand. He lowered Yangyang to the ground with a groan.
Chenle immediately moved to run off with his friend, when Jaehyun suddenly leaned down and grabbed his arm.
“Hey. Do not do anything to get yourself or Yangyang in trouble. Understood?”
The child nodded rapidly, so much so that Jaehyun couldn’t tell if there was a glint of mischief in his dark little eyes. He released his son’s arm cautiously.
“And stay right in this area, little man!” Johnny shouted before sighing and turning to the game.
“Phew, that kid was heavier than I expected him to be all that time,” Jungwoo huffed. “How’s everyone doing today?”
Everyone offered a chorus of positive responses.
Jungwoo, the youngest of the adults, was a live-in nanny, but not for the Qians – he actually took care of Mark, the only child of their single dad friend Taeil, who’s demanding job as a hospital administrator unfortunately left little spare time for these activities.
But Jungwoo loved kids and looked forward to these events. He had grown attached to all the little ones. It helped that it gave him ample time to gush over his crush, too.
“Would you look at that tall drink of water,” Jungwoo said, digging into his bag of gummies with ferocity and staring down the sideline towards Coach Yukhei. “I’d like to climb him like a redwood.”
Johnny hummed. “Yeah. You’ve mentioned.”
“Many, many times,” Doyoung chimed in.
“And it still applies.”
He popped a sour gummy into his mouth. His thirst for the sporty and sweet coach was powerful and unyielding – and just about everyone was tired of hearing about it.
“So hey, Kun, where is Ten anyway?” Johnny asked, suddenly turning back to Kun.
“Some Daddy & Me yoga thing, I think?” Kun answered, tilting his head. He looked back towards the parking lot. “Ah, that’s him now. Finally.”
Ten swerved into the lot with his enormous black Escalade. The parents collectively turned to watch as the relatively petite Thai man hopped down from the driver’s seat. He had his trademark Prada backpack slung over his shoulder, Lululemon joggers on his legs, and a venti iced coffee in his hand.
He helped his two sons descend from the backseat – as best as one can without putting down one’s coffee, of course. He linked hands with the taller child, Kunhang, who held onto the younger and tinier Dejun’s hand.
In the context of their little group, Ten was in a class of his own – he always had been, even since their college days.
“Hi hi, sorry we’re late,” he said coolly, adjusting his Fendi sunglasses.
Ten leaned over to peck his husband’s cheeks.
“Yes, well Daddy & Me Yoga does sound too important to miss, so,” Doyoung remarked, voice laden with sarcasm.
Ten huffed and pursed his lips.
“Say what you will, but a Trophy Husband like moi needs to keep it right and tight,” Ten hummed. “I wouldn’t expect any of you with your ‘dad-bods’ to understand.”
Johnny and Jaehyun exchanged glances, rolling their eyes. By all accounts, they were a pair of prime DILFs and they knew it.
“Trophy Husband, huh?” Johnny mused, crossing his arms with a mischievous smirk. “I guess that’s true... if you mean like a participants’ trophy.”
It took everyone a moment before low chuckles rippled across the groups.
Ten mock-laughed, eyes narrowing.
“Oh gosh,” he started, a scary smile on his face. “If our kids weren’t a foot away, I would cut you down where you stand.”
Kun, who had been more focused on getting his two middle sons a couple of snacks, suddenly huffed out a small laugh beside his husband.
“Ah. ‘Participants’ trophy.’ Because you were such a slut in college.”
“It’s not funny,” Ten bit, shooting lasers at the stupid smile on his husband’s face.
“I didn’t say it was funny,” Kun said quickly, clearly fighting a laugh. “I just said I figured it out.”
Ten rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, see what that gets you tonight.”
“Baba, can we go play with Lele and Yangyang now?” Dejun’s voice suddenly piped up.
Kun nodded, telling them to be careful, before they darted away to the other kids who looked to be playing some kind of imaginary superhero game.
The first half of the game went by relatively quickly, and before they knew it, the ref was blowing the whistle for half-time with a 1-1 score-line.
The kids huddled around the snack table, grabbing this and that for replenishment. Jaehyun’s little oranges, sadly, went untouched. Johnny consoled him with a gentle arm around his shoulder.
“Alright, second half is getting ready to kick-off! Let’s go!” Yukhei called, rallying his troops.
Ten was still fussing over his eldest, Renjun, before he could release him back to the game.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m—”
“Because I’m sure Coach Yukhei will sub you off if you need it, baby.”
Renjun turned to his other dad, pleading. “Baba, please.”
Kun sighed and patted Ten’s arm.
“He’s doing great,” Kun assured. “Let him go.”
Ten nodded and loosened his hold on his son’s shoulders. He was particularly protective of his eldest son. Not only did Renjun suffer from a mild case of asthma, he was also notably shorter than the rest of the team.
So Ten went through this routine just about every game – it was one of the few things that humanized him to the other parents.
Meanwhile, Taeyong was strolling over to the coach down the sideline.
“So, hi there, remind me again what happens if there’s a tie at the end?” he asked nervously, tugging on his own short sleeve.
“Uhh, two halves of overtime and then a penalty shoot-out,” Yukhei said before finally looking over at the concerned parent, now a little stressed. “Why, do Jeno and Jaemin need to be somewhere else?”
They certainly did not, but it was Sunday after all and the house wasn’t going to clean itself.
“Oh, no no no,” Taeyong shook his head. “No, I was just wondering.”
“Oh, okay. Cool. Because they’re like, our best players, so...” Yukhei cleared his throat. “Um, good job, if you, uh, made them.”
Taeyong smiled with pride because he did make them. Well, he made Jaemin. Doyoung made Jeno. In short, they mixed their goop and two of the donor eggs ended up fertilized, one by each parent.
The miracle of life felt just a little more miraculous to the Lees.
He walked back to the rest of the dads, content.
The rest of the game was a nail-biter. In a surprise to no one, it stayed 1-1 until about the last five minutes, when things started to kick off.
Jaemin accidentally blocked the ball using his face and was substituted off.
Yukhei guided him to his parents with an arm around the child’s shoulder. Taeyong knelt down beside him, inspecting his face.
Jaemin sniffled, holding his cheek.
“Let Daddy see,” Taeyong mumbled gently, pulling the child’s hand away. He tutted. “Aw, you’re okay, honey. It’s fine, you’ll be fine.”
He brushed the tear off his face with his thumb and kissed the child’s reddened cheekbone.
“Go sit down and I’ll get you some ice.”
Jaemin nodded, head hung low in disappointment and pain.
“Okay, Hyuck! Move up to Right Wing!” Yukhei shouted across the field. “No, no, Right Wing, Hyuckie! Right!”
Yukhei waved his arms widely to direct the kid on the field. Doyoung and Ten looked at Johnny and Jaehyun questioningly.
Johnny cleared his throat. “We’re...still working on directions—”
“He’s good at a lot of other things, alright?” Jaehyun added defensively.
Johnny and Jaehyun exchanged glances, telepathically expressing their annoyance at their friends and their nerves about Donghyuck. Even if it was a just an Under-10’s soccer game, they knew Jaemin’s little cleats were hard to fill.
So when the ball fell to his feet with just a couple minutes to go, the parents held their breath – because Hyuck looked like a deer in headlights.
“Hyuckie, run!” Jaehyun shouted.
The fluffy-haired boy suddenly sprung into action. Jaehyun even jogged down the sidelines with him, cheering him on.
“Come on, through the center, baby!” It could be said that Jaehyun was something of a ‘backseat coach’ and ‘a little too enthusiastic’ at times. “Shoot!”
But powered by his dad’s energetic encouragement, Hyuck hoofed it with all the power in his body. The ball rebounded off the goalie’s shin and bounced, rather gently, over the goal line.
“I scored?!” Hyuck squealed. This had never happened before. He looked around for his dads, spotting Jaehyun. “Appa, I scored!!!”
“You scored!” Jaehyun yelped, fighting every urge to run onto the field and scoop him up.
Jeno nearly tackled his cousin as he ran to give him a hug.
“Demons, reset! Still a couple minutes left!”
Jaehyun came back to where Johnny was still standing by their chair, with what was easily one of his top three proudest papa smiles.
“Can you believe that? Our son, scoring goals—”
“Uh, goal, Jaehyun,” Doyoung corrected from nearby. “Singular.”
“Shush,” Johnny said offhandedly over his shoulder.
“It was awesome. Our kid!” Jaehyun beamed. “Our Baby Bear!”
“Right?! Also...”
Johnny nodded towards where a recovering Jaemin and little Jisung were both sitting in Taeyong’s lap, plucking little orange slices from the adult’s hand.
They were eating the oranges! A double-win for the Seos!
Johnny swung his arm around his husband and nuzzled the crown of his head.
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeep!
That was it – the final whistle and Green Demons were talking home the victory. The two teams lined up to high-five each other before the kids all broke away, running back to their families.
After being high-fived by all his teammates and Coach Yukhei, Donghyuck bolted into the open arms of Jaehyun.
“You did so well, honey!” Jaehyun squeezed his giddy son tightly.
“You were amazing!” Johnny added, smiling from cheek to cheek as he ruffled the boy’s hair.
He put Hyuck down and he bounced over to his friends, who were checking out Jaemin’s face.
“Okay, great job, everyone! Onto the next round. Parents, check your emails for time and location of the quarter-finals. See you all for practice on Thursday night and thanks for coming out!”
Yukhei started helping gather up the equipment. Jungwoo, who had broken away earlier to play with the younger kids on the nearby playground, was now back and passing off the children to their rightful parents so that he could traipse off to flirt with the coach.
Johnny knelt down to brush off the mixture of dirt and mulch that was stuck all over Chenle’s clothes.
“Ah, what, did you do, roll around on the ground?”
“Only a little!”
In the most predictable turn of events, he noticed Chenle squirming.
“Do you need to go pee-pee?”
Chenle shook his head, avoiding eye contact with his dad. Johnny sighed and turned to his husband.
“Alright, Chenle needs the bathroom before we leave.”
Jaehyun blinked at him.
“Can you...take him? Ya know, since I had to get all three of them ready this morning. Alone.”
Jaehyun rolled his eyes at his husband’s shameless waste of a guilt trip. He scooped up the small wriggling boy and threw him over his shoulder – as you do – walking towards the restrooms at the recreational site.
Johnny started packing up their chair and all the toys that Jisung had taken from their bag during the last hour.
“Dad! Daddy, hi, um—”
Hyuck was definitely about to ask for something. That was pretty much the only circumstance in which he still referred to his dad as ‘Daddy.’
“Mr. Kun said to ask if I can go with them to get pizza. Can I go? Please, Daddy?”
Johnny looked over at Kun, just to be sure it was a real proposal and not part of some little scheme the kids came up with first. Kun nodded, knowing exactly what Johnny was looking for.
Johnny was fine with that – if the Qians wanted to load up their fancy cars with a bunch of stinky kids, more power to them.
“Alright, go on,” Johnny said. “I’m so proud of you, champ.”
Hyuck hugged around his dad’s waist and ran back to his friends. The very distinct sound of Jisung’s pre-cry whimper rang out.
“Ah, sorry Tae,” Johnny apologized, stepping over to him.
“It’s okay, he’s been fine, really,” Taeyong sang, cooing the sniffling child.
Taeyong had full-on heart eyes staring at Jisung in his lap. He really missed having a little one. Why did they have to be so small and adorable?
Doyoung caught his husband and his warm, impossibly large, jabuticaba-esque eyes.
“Give it back,” he said, already exasperated.
“Doyoungie, wouldn’t it be so nice—”
“No. Nope. We’ve got our hands full enough with the twins.”
“But they haven’t been this small and squishy in so longgg,” Taeyong pouted, looking like he was about to shed tears of his own.
“Okayyy, I’m just gonna... yeah,” Johnny leaned down to hoist his youngest into his arms before turning to Doyoung. “Good luck with that.”
Doyoung pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, while Johnny snuck away.
“What was that about?” Jaehyun asked as he returned with a refreshed Chenle by his side.
“Just a little tiff about...expanding.”
Jaehyun hummed, collecting up their things. “Oh?”
They started making their way back to the car, waving to the few clusters of parents still hanging behind.
“You...you wouldn’t want to... right?” Johnny questioned, tilting his head.
Jaehyun reached down to brush some newfound dirt out of Chenle’s hair, smiling.
“Ehh,” he chuckled. “I think we have plenty to keep us busy for a while.”
“That doesn’t sound like a definite ‘no’ to me.”
Jaehyun grinned and reached for his husband’s hand, interlacing their fingers.
“Ask me again tomorrow,” he smiled. “For now, let’s just go home with our boys.”
~